


Dear Mrs Hampton,...

by lost_and_found



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: Business Trip, Co-workers, F/M, Falling In Love, Infidelity, Letters, Marriage, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 01:28:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21245273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_and_found/pseuds/lost_and_found
Summary: Mrs Hampton starts receiving letters from Lauren, only to find that her real name is Anna...that meeting her was never by chance...that the amazing girl she got to know and treat as her own daughter had been lying all along...that love can hurt in many ways and some people only have that pain left to live for...





	1. Chapter 1

Tom was wandering around in his mother's living room, taking in the place he had not visited for the past two years, while Martha was making tea in the kitchen. He stood in front of the big drawer that was covering part of the big window overlooking at the backyard he used to skin his knees at as a kid. His mother had photos of him and his older brother as children, a family photo with his late dad from when they were still married, a photo of Tom with his daughter from a recent trip to France, and a photo of her with another younger women that he had not seen in years but would always recognise.

"Mom", he asked in a loud voice for Martha to hear him, "who is this?". He took the last photo in his hands and started making his way to the kitchen just when Martha resurfaced with a tray with their teas.

"Sorry, dear. What was that?", Martha asked setting the tray on the table before she turned to Tom.

"Who is this woman?", Tom asked pointing at the other woman in the photo.

Martha took it in her hands and Tom saw a sad smile on his mother's face. She sighed and sat on the couch. She stared at the photo for a few more seconds and then looked at him.

"This is Lauren...", there was something really odd in her voice.

Lauren? Could he be so wrong? He was sure it was her... But then again, it had been years... And how would his mother know her anyway?

"I don't recall having met her and yet you have a picture with her in your favourite spot", Tom smiled warmly, sitting next to Martha, sensing there was more to this story.

"She was important, she was my company for about a year.And then she just left...", Martha sighed, taking a sip of her tea. "My son, I know you usually don't stay long, but I want to show you something". She stood from the couch and asked Tom to wait there. When she came back, she was carrying a small box which she put on the table in front of him. "I want you to open these letters and read them all, no matter how tough it gets, how emotional, how sad. Read them, my son, and I'll see you in the yard when you are ready". Martha touched Tom's hand before she walked out of the balcony door, leaving him alone and wondering what this is all about and why this Lauren that reminded him of someone he used to know had made his mother so upset. 

Tom opened the box and took the first letter in his hand, starting to read.

_Dear Mrs Hampton,_

_My name is not Lauren, it's Anna._

_Please try to forgive me for all the lies and the deceit. I will explain everything in time. Don't try to call me or come by my house. If you are receiving these letters, it means I decided to leave. But I couldn't do it without first telling you the truth._

_...._

Tom kept reading the letters one by one, tears welling up his eyes, smiling gently at a shared memory from time to time, feeling angry at Anna, at himself. By the time he had read them all, the sun had started setting. He carefully put them back in the box and closed it. He sighed and made his way to the yard.

"There is one last letter", Martha stated matter-of-factly, not looking at Tom standing behind her. He stepped closer to her and once he reached her side, he saw a letter sitting on his mother's lap. He slowly pulled it and started reading.

******

It was already late afternoon when Tom entered his house, the silence he met being the confirmation that he was alone. He poured a glass of whiskey and took a long sip before he made his way to the living room and sat on the sofa, looking outside of his window. He didn't know if he was thinking of what he had read in those letter or if he was reminiscing about well-hidden memories. He didn't know if he was shocked, angry, sad, ashamed or all of them together. All he knew was that no matter how hard he was trying, he couldn't keep the tears from falling. Silent, like the house, like his heart, like his life. And more tears were falling the more he was trying to remember the sound of her laugh, but it had been so long and he was so lost at that moment, that he could hear nothing. Not even the keys at the door or his wife calling his name. Not even his daughter's footsteps while she was running to him. Everything around him was silent.

"Daddy, why are you sad?", his little girl touched his cheek while asking, and he was brought back to reality. He smiled at her, not even bothering to wipe away his tears. He set his glass on the table next to him and lifted his daughter to sit her in his lap. He held her head close to his chest, somehow trying to feel some warmth. And just like that, for the first time in 8 years, he heard Anna's voice in his head... _ I guess you will live your happy life and I will live my happy life and we will both live our unhappily ever after... _

"Daddy is sad, sweetheart, because he realised today that the biggest punishment of all is to walk away from what makes you happy because it's the right think to do, hoping that it is for the best, only to find out that you had been wrong all along", his voice was just a whisper, knowing that any attempt to speak louder would make him break. He kissed the girl's forehead and smiled, asking her to go take her bath before getting to bed. She hugged him and kissed him goodnight and he smiled at the fact that she was the one thing he had done right.

******

"Tom, what's wrong, darling?", his wife asked close to his ear, putting her arms protectively on his chest, lying next to him in bed. "Andria told me that she saw you crying. Something happened with your mom?"

"You know I love you, right?", he asked while touching her face with his fingers.

"Of course I do, my love. What's wrong?", Lisa asked again, more worried now.

"I just don't know how some people manage to find so much beauty in their lives and feel so ugly inside them", Tom said, avoiding Lisa's eyes. "Sleep, love. I will always be here to protect you."


	2. Chapter 2

_Dear Mrs Hampton,_

_My name is not Lauren, it's Anna._

_Please try to forgive me for all the lies and the deceit. I will explain everything in time. Don't try to call me or come by my house. If you are receiving these letters, it means I decided to leave. But I couldn't do it without first telling you the truth._

_It all started almost 9 years ago, when I was 26, living in Italy. It all started with a business trip._

_...._

**~9 years ago~**

Anna is struggling with her big luggage, trying to make her way to the ticket counter to check it in. Vivianne and Carla were supposed to meet her at the airport, but she could see them nowhere, neither had she received any call yet that they had arrived.

She was really excited about this trip. She was just a young woman from a small Italian village, who had always been dreaming of a big career. She had worked her way there too with her studies, learning new skills, starting work from the age of 18 and making her way up with every new job she was landing. When she joined the company a month ago as sales business analyst, she never imagined that she would be on her way to London to meet with the team that she was remotely working with all this time. It was her first visit to London too, so this business trip was amazing in every way possible.

"Anna!", she recognised Viv's voice calling her and turned around. "We were calling you", Viv and Carla walked closer and each gave Anna a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, sorry... I was trying to carry this thing and I didn't hear it", Anna apologised pointing at her big bag.

"Come on, girls! Let's give our bags and go to duty free", Carla exclaimed obviously excited. 

Viv had been working with the company in the same department as Anna for more than 5 years already and had visited London twice, one of those times staying there for about two months. Carla was the young one, an 21-year-old intern who was coordinating several tasks for different departments of the company. A nice girl, but overly excited about every single thing.

The trip to London was calm and once they landed and made their way to the hotel, the three women each made their way to her room, all feeling tired from the night trip. It was already way past midnight and even though the office was close by, they would have to be there at 9 am.

Anna knew that she would need at least a couple of hours more before she would be able to sleep. She desperately needed a shower and she also knew that her long black hair would need to be attended to if she didn't want her colleagues to meet the Lion King in the morning. By the time she got to bed, it was already 3.30 am. She set her alarm, sighed and soon drifted off.

She could hear the sound of her clock going off as if it was from afar. She slowly opened her eyes and closed it, taking in the room, remembering where she was as if it had slipped her mind. She took her phone in her hands. It was 8 am and she had a text from Viv.

_I got a call from the office in Italy that something urgent needed to be done. I am on my way to the office, but don't worry. Come at 9 with Carla :)_

Anna got up and texted Carla to make sure she was awake and getting ready. She already knew from last night when she was setting her alarm that she would not be having any coffee before reaching the office. She got ready and soon was meeting Carla at the lobby, making their way to the office by taxi.

The receptionist at the entrance of the building showed them to the elevator and they made their way to the 11th floor. Contrary to their office back home, it looked like a shared offices building, which made sense considering that the London team was much smaller. They found office 16 and inside the small place Viv was sitting in a round table working already.

"Good morning", she smiled at the two women entering. 

"Where is everyone?", Anna asked hoping that she could meet her colleagues.

"No one is here yet, apart from your favourite one", Viv replied, standing up.

"Tom is here?", Anna asked looking around, realising how silly that was considering that the office was too small for her to have missed anyone inside it.

Tom was indeed Anna's favourite. He was working with the operations team and she would be constantly on business chats or exchange emails with him, always being friendly with each other. He was very helpful and he had helped her out a lot during her first month with the company.

"Come, I'll show you around the shared rooms", Viv offered. Anna and Carla followed her as she was showing them to the bathrooms, meeting booths and eventually the shared kitchen with the big windows that were revealing a balcony with some tables, obviously a smoking area she knew she would be spending a lot of time at. "You can make your coffee here", Viv showed her the counter knowing how much Anna loved coffee. "There's your boy", Viv joked pointing at a man sitting outside, his back turned to windows, smoking. Without a second thought, Anna excitedly made her way to the door and walked outside.

"Hi, Tom", she smiled widely. Tom looked at her, confused for a few seconds, then smiled back standing up.

"Anna?", he stood up and extended his hand to shake hers.

He was very handsome and his voice was so soft yet so deep. His blue eyes in contrast with his black hair. He really was a sight. She stayed and talked to him only for a couple of minutes, feeling awkward and bad for disturbing him while having his coffee and smoking. She made her way back inside and to the office were more people had started coming. Tom joined soon after, only to leave a couple of minutes later to get some outside work done, making sure to welcome them again and smile before he left.

Anna started working,realising more and more that she would think about him every now and then, that she would wonder when he would be back. Subtle thoughts of a few seconds. Thoughts that she should not have. She had only been speaking to him all this time in regards to work. She knew nothing about him. Nothing except for two things; that he was very polite and that he was married.


End file.
